People line up to buy supplies from a supermarket during the coronavirus outbreak in Madrid, Spain, March 28, 2020. (MANU FERNANDEZ/AP)

MADRID/BEIJING - With a dire shortage of protective face masks in Europe, even for health workers, a senior manager at a Spanish furniture store group was surprised to hear business partners and staff in China offering to send him masks.

READ MORE: Europe grapples with medical supply shortage

China, once the epicenter of the epidemic, has seen new cases fall over the past weeks.

The death toll from the respiratory disease is now higher in Europe, particularly in Italy and Spain, causing a rush to find protective gear.

They (The Chinese partners) don’t do it as a business, they don’t charge (for the masks), they are very concerned

 Ignacio Rey, commercial director, Rey Corporación

“I worked in China for several years. When you’re there, they give you things like tea, liquor or cookies. But up until now the suppliers did not send us gifts to Spain,” said Ignacio Rey, the commercial director of Rey Corporación.

Rey is expecting to receive next week a parcel of 100 masks, which he plans to give to a local health center. His import manager has received masks from a supplier and staff in China have also asked if they could help.

“They don’t do it as a business, they don’t charge, they are very concerned,” Rey said.

Business leaders in China and Europe say the “mask diplomacy” has quickly become a popular trend.

Song Li, deputy general manager of Beijing Best Buy International Trade Co, which exports and imports porcelain and wine in Europe and Asia, said his company was sending masks to clients in Europe as a gesture to strengthen their relationship.

A worker packs finished protective masks at the workshop of a medical supply company in south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Jan 29, 2020. (LU BOAN/XINHUA)

“It’s funny to think that there is no better present than masks now,” he said. “It’s very easy to buy masks in China now, so why not?”

Clients in South Korea had sent his company 300 masks, but transport disruption meant they arrived late and he is now sending them on to clients in Austria and the Netherlands.

Not everyone in Europe is accepting these gifts.

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“I’ve asked all my clients, some of whom I’ve been working with for over ten years, if they need masks,” said Jerry Guo, sales director of Zhejiang-based Jiaxing Highenter Standard Parts Company, which exports fasteners to Europe.

However, the clients declined his gift. “Perhaps the Westerners are not used to wearing masks,” he said.